In the third quarter, Davis clamped down on Lake’s 3-point shooters and held Lake to just five points in the period.

Meanwhile, Jamal Antoine and Hamm each nailed 3-pointers for Davis and Taylor Pearson produced a 3-point play.

That helped Davis to build as much as a 13-point lead (54-41) before Maldonado scored only the second field goal of the period for Lake to pull the Falcons within 55-43.

Clear Lake refused to go away in the final eight minutes, outscoring Davis 16-6 in the first 5:30 of the period.

Three-pointers from Culbertson and point guard Zaid Harris fueled the rally while Maldonado also scored six points during that stretch.

Down 64-59 with 16 seconds left, Lake could have taken a chunk out of the lead but Ostrowski managed to sink just one attempt in a three-shot foul.

Nevertheless, Lake still hit two more 3-pointers in the final six seconds, including one by Riley Abercrombie that pulled the Falcons within 66-63.

Davis, though, put the game away when Antoine made two free throws with five seconds left for a 68-63 score.

Penders was proud of his team’s effort.

“We’ve got a bunch of tough kids, who have been playing well,” the Lake head coach said. “We’ve done a good job of improving during an 11-day stretch.

“We played hard, but we didn’t make enough plays down the stretch.”

Lake managed to stay close in the second half, despite Davis shutting down its 3-point game.

“We moved the ball well and took good shots,” Penders said. “Maldonado and Bolen inside are such tough finishers.

“If we stay spread out and take advantage of what the defense gives us, we believe we can score.”

Mitchell said his team will benefit from the outing.

“Clear Lake has good guards and when they’re shooting like that, they’re playing with confidence,” Mitchell said.

“It’s a learning tool for us, and that’s why we scheduled this game. I talked to coach Penders in the fall, and told him that he knows what it’s like to go to state. We wanted to play a team that had made a deep run.

“We knew they could expose us. This was an unbelievable game and gives us stuff to work on. The way they were making shots, that can drain a team mentally. I was glad our guys fought through it and held on.”

The silky-smooth Hamm finished with 21 points for Davis.

“He’s a super player,” Penders said. “He has a great demeanor and doesn’t turn the ball over a lot. There’s a lot of upside there.”

Lake’s Maldonado led all scorers with 23 points while Ostrowski had 18.